Dusty Miller

Barley, a dog, sniffs at a patch of plants whose leaves are covered in a fine white hair-like surface, creating the appearance of being “dusty.”

Growing up, my father made several attempts to interest me in gardening, never with any success. So complete was my lack of interest that he improvised various tactics, one of which was a scheme to award me a quarter any time he was gardening and I identified a plant in the yard. I learned exactly one plant name: “Dusty Miller,” an ornamental plant that comes in many strains, all of which have thick ‘trichomes’ on their surface, making them look hairy, fuzzy, or dusty (depending on your distance from them). Daily, over a summer week, I would exit the house and ambush my father, pointing to the plant and declaring that I could identify Dusty Miller; upon receiving my quarter, I would turn on my heels and return inside. Eventually, my frustrated father cut me off, but not before demanding to know why I hadn’t bothered to learn any of the other plants (which I genuinely couldn’t tell apart). He wasn’t satisfied by the reply that I didn’t see what was wrong with coming out 25¢ ahead.

The irony of it all is that I’m not even 100% sure Barley is sniffing Dusty Miller in this photo.